Sintered metal pads vs resin: appearance

[roubaixtuesday]

Sintered metal pads are recommended as essential for tandem use due to the heat generated melting resin ones. I've no previous experience of these different types.

On starting our tour, we needed to urgently source some and separately did this online (generic from French Amazon) and then also managed to get some from a reputable LBS in Portsmouth by the ferry port, who assured us they are sintered (we found these rather hard to get from bike shops).

On changing for the first time, the old pads were dark grey, as were the generic French ones. The ones from the LBS are, however, pale brown (see pic).

Accordingly, we've used the generic ones until now, and they've worked fine, but I think we're going to run out before getting home (they typically last a couple of thousand km)

So the question is: can you tell the material by the colour, and do I have resin pads, or am I worrying unnecessarily?

We'll be in Prague in a few days, so an opportunity to get the right ones should present, though I'm doubtful of my ability to communicate my needs in Czech!

 

[C R]

Sintered metal pads are recommended as essential for tandem use due to the heat generated melting resin ones. I've no previous experience of these different types.

On starting our tour, we needed to urgently source some and separately did this online (generic from French Amazon) and then also managed to get some from a reputable LBS in Portsmouth by the ferry port, who assured us they are sintered (we found these rather hard to get from bike shops).

On changing for the first time, the old pads were dark grey, as were the generic French ones. The ones from the LBS are, however, pale brown (see pic).

Accordingly, we've used the generic ones until now, and they've worked fine, but I think we're going to run out before getting home (they typically last a couple of thousand km)

So the question is: can you tell the material by the colour, and do I have resin pads, or am I worrying unnecessarily?

We'll be in Prague in a few days, so an opportunity to get the right ones should present, though I'm doubtful of my ability to communicate my needs in Czech!

View attachment 739057

I can't say for sure about the looks, but those look like the generic resin ones I buy.

I have a Czech colleague who is a keen cyclist, I can ask him what it is you need to ask for in the shop in Prague. In my experience, though, most shops in there have someone who speaks English to a reasonably good standard.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

I have a Czech colleague who is a keen cyclist, I can ask him what it is you need to ask for in the shop in Prague.

That would be super helpful if you could. In my experience, getting across in English that pad material is actually *really* important, not incidental, is pretty difficult.

Eg "We need sintered metal pads for our tandem. Normal resin ones are not adequate for us"

 

[C R]

That would be super helpful if you could. In my experience, getting across in English that pad material is actually *really* important, not incidental, is pretty difficult.

Eg "We need sintered metal pads for our tandem. Normal resin ones are not adequate for us"

I'll speak to him tomorrow.

 

[Brandane]

That would be super helpful if you could. In my experience, getting across in English that pad material is actually *really* important, not incidental, is pretty difficult.

Eg "We need sintered metal pads for our tandem. Normal resin ones are not adequate for us"

Courtesy of google translate:
"Pro náš tandem potřebujeme slinuté kovové brzdové destičky. Pryskyřice nejsou dostatečné."

 

[raleighnut]

Courtesy of google translate:
"Pro náš tandem potřebujeme slinuté kovové brzdové destičky. Pryskyřice nejsou dostatečné."

Why is your hovercraft full of Eels

 

[si_c]

Oof, Czech isn't the easiest to read, although if spelt phonetically it's no worse than Polish!

I'd go simpler, have two tabs in your browser, one for the sintered/metallic and one for resin - I'm assuming these are Shimano Pads, they look to be - and you can get then show them what you need and what you don't need more explicitly. "No This" tends to work well I've found.

If they are Shimano calipers then I'd suggest trying to get genuine Shimano pads - you can be sure what you need then, the Resin Pads tend to end in an "A" and the sintered ones an "S" so L05A are road resin pads and L05S are road sintered pads.

This is generally the case for Shimano, but it's worth checking for your particular calipers and pads what the codes are.

 

[FrankCrank]

You live and learn. My only understanding of 'sintered' was in bearings, as in self-lubricating. Never knew it applied to brakes, till now.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Oof, Czech isn't the easiest to read, although if spelt phonetically it's no worse than Polish!

I'd go simpler, have two tabs in your browser, one for the sintered/metallic and one for resin - I'm assuming these are Shimano Pads, they look to be - and you can get then show them what you need and what you don't need more explicitly. "No This" tends to work well I've found.

If they are Shimano calipers then I'd suggest trying to get genuine Shimano pads - you can be sure what you need then, the Resin Pads tend to end in an "A" and the sintered ones an "S" so L05A are road resin pads and L05S are road sintered pads.

This is generally the case for Shimano, but it's worth checking for your particular calipers and pads what the codes are.

Very helpful thanks. The calipers are TRP Spyre.

 

[wafter]

You live and learn. My only understanding of 'sintered' was in bearings, as in self-lubricating. Never knew it applied to brakes, till now.

Sintering is a manufacturing process that involves compressing powdered material together, usually in the presence of heat to fuse the particles together and create a porous / semi-porous solid. This is desirable in bearings as it allows liquid lubrication to diffuse into the pores and maintain a supply to the areas subject to contact.

I'm not sure about the porousity of brake pads - might just be that sintering is the most appropriate way of fusing the materials in question.

 

[T4tomo]

ceramic pads will also work, like sintered they are very hard wearing and wont "melt" on you at the high temps a tandem can generate.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Brzdové destičky is brake pad, dunno how it's pronounced
kovové is metallic, as opposed to polymerové which is polymer/resin

This page shows the distinction with a translation So having these words written down might be helpful
https://www.kupkolo.cz/komponenty-na-kolo_k982/brzdy_k29/brzdove-desticky_k81/

The ideal thing would be to find a physical shop in Prague that also has a webshop with the component you need to point at on your phone.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The ideal thing would be to find a physical shop in Prague that also has a webshop with the component you need to point at on your phone.

Finebike is a physical shop in Prague Skořepka 4 Praha 1, 110 00 https://www.finebike.cz/en/store/
They have this: Shimano G04Ti which to my untutored eye seems to fit the bill. But I know FA about disc brakes
https://www.finebike.cz/brzdove-desticky-shimano-g04ti-kovove--s-pruzinou/

Maybe email them?

 

[si_c]

Very helpful thanks. The calipers are TRP Spyre.

Ah that's easy enough. TRP Spyres use a B01s/E01s type Shimano Pad - they're the same ones that Shimano use for a lot of their MTB range, so most shops should have something compatible in stock.

I'm pretty sure the B01s pads are resin though - you need the E01s pads for the Sintered version. But worth double checking this.

Edit: B01/E01 pads have been replaced by B05/E05 but they are physically the same size so interchangeable.

 

[si_c]

Finebike is a physical shop in Prague Skořepka 4 Praha 1, 110 00 https://www.finebike.cz/en/store/
They have this: Shimano G04Ti which to my untutored eye seems to fit the bill. But I know FA about disc brakes
https://www.finebike.cz/brzdove-desticky-shimano-g04ti-kovove--s-pruzinou/

Maybe email them?

The G04 pads won't fit a TRP Spyre - they're slightly too wide. I have a set on a shelf I can't use for this reason.

Edit to add, I've checked the website for that shop, it looks as though they have the B05s pads in (newer version of the B01s pads), so at a pinch if you need some new pads these might work temporarily.